Around 2000 devotees protest police action at St. Antony’s shrine

Condemning the “police excess” on the anti-Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project protesters at Idinthakarai on Monday and the alleged desecration of St. Lourdes Church by police in the coastal hamlet, around 2,000 Christians observed fast at the St. Antony’s Shrine on Seevalaperi Road at Palayamkottai on Saturday.

Presiding over the agitation, Most Rev. A. Jude Paulraj, Bishop of Palayamkottai RC Diocese, alleged that the policemen, who “brutally attacked the people fighting against the KKNPP through non-violent means, had desecrated St. Lourdes Church.”

Inaugurating the agitation, Communist Party of India leader R. Nallakannu said the police action at Idinthakarai could not be justified in any way as they had attacked those who were “peacefully fighting” against KKNPP for more than 400 days.

Against this backdrop, cases under serious sections were being registered against those who were being arrested after the clash.

“Instead of taking steps to remove the sense of fear prevailing in this region, the police action has heightened it further,” Mr. Nallakannu said.

Tamil Nationalist Movement leader P. Nedumaran offered juice to the protesters to mark the end of the agitation.